First Time Puppies: DIY Puppy Whelping Box
So, you have a dam who is going to give birth to a litter of puppies. You know it probably isn’t a good idea to let them give birth on your living room carpet or in the backyard, but what should you do? This is where whelping box comes in. A “whelping” (n. puppy, v. to give birth to a puppy) box is where your dam (mother dog) will give birth to her puppies, and where they can live for the first several weeks. There are a couple of things to consider:
Size - You actually don’t want your box to be too big at this beginning point. While the puppies will need a much larger area once they are moving, for the first 2-3 weeks puppies can’t see and move based upon heat and smell, so a box that is just large enough for your dam and space for the puppies to sleep will be ideal. Keep that in mind. We are going to use a kiddie pool, but you may need to use something smaller if your dog is smaller than a Golden Retriever.
Safety - Your box will need to be able to keep your puppies safe in several ways. First, it needs to have some sort of lip to keep them in. Second, it needs to be able to let the mother come and go easily, so no high walls with doors that need to be always opened and closed. Third, you need to be able to get a heating lamp to shine into the box. So you either need a wall you can clamp a light to or another way to attach the light. We used a tripod next to the box for our light.
Cleanliness - This is where your dam will birth and care for the puppies for the first few weeks. The birth, especially, is messy. We chose a plastic pool because of the ease to clean it with Clorox wipes or other cleaning products. Consider this when you build you box. Wood, especially, is not easy to clean unless it is painted and sealed.
We chose to go a cheap route for our first whelping box, and we did not regret it. It worked great, and even if we don’t keep it for the next time, it is cheap to rebuild it when necessary. To build our version of this box you will need:
Materials
A plastic kiddie pool
Qty 3, 4” pool noodles
Approximately 20 zip ties
A drill with a bit the same size as your zip ties
Tape measure
Marker
Scissors
Knife
Step 1: Measure and Drill Holes for Noodles
We measured up from the bottom of the pool 5” and 8” and made a mark. The goal here is to place the pool noodles at the back-height of your dam so she cannot lean completely against the wall of the pool and potentially crush a baby before they can move. Sad, but it happens often. You will need to measure your dam and decide on the right height for your dog. It may be lower, especially for smaller breeds. Drill a hole at each mark, and then hold the noodle up to the side and mark two holes at the other end of the noodle, at 5” and 8” (or your heights).
Step 2: Attach Noodles with Zip Ties
Once you have your two sets of holes at each end of your noodle, you will loop the zip tie through the holes, over the noodle, and cinch them down. If your zip ties are not long enough, you can always join them to make a larger zip tie to reach around the entire noodle. Once we had each end attached, we chose to add another set of holes in the middle of the noodle to keep it from sagging.
Step 3: Repeat for Noodles 2 & 3
We repeated this process exactly the same for the first two noodles, and kept them full sized. On the third noodle we trimmed it down with the knife to fit.
Step 4: Trim Zip Ties and Add Padding
Once all the noodles were attached, we trimmed the extra lengths of zip ties so they would not poke the puppies or the dam. We also added some blankets and towels we got from the local thrift shop for the birthing time.
That’s it! Watch our vide if you would like to see a more detailed step-by-step version. We walk you through the process from raw materials all the way to the final product. We have since used this whelping box and couldn’t be more pleased with it. It was exactly the right size for our English Golden dam and puppies, was easy to clean, and kept the puppies safe while give the mama easy access to enter and leave. We used this for the first three weeks and then upgraded to a larger box when the puppies could all see and move well.
Best of luck with your puppies!
